Midnight Rewrite
by Duskspiral
Summary: One night, in her dreams, Squirrelpaw receives a life-changing prophecy. Urged on by a mysterious voice inside her head, she goes on a journey with three other cats to the mountains. But journeying is no easy task... especially when you don't know the dangers that lie around every corner.


**It's me again. Hello. **

**Note: Brambleclaw is known as Brambleflower because of the fandom. **

Chapter one: Fall Asleep

She rushed forwards, the edges of her vision blurring. With one mighty leap, she trapped the vole beneath her paws and delivered a killing blow.

"I got it!" she yowled in triumph, waving her tail in the air.

Nearby, a black tom whirled around, fur bristling. His amber eyes flashing angrily as he took a step towards her.

"You scared my mouse away!" he growled.

The ginger she-cat sunk her jaws harder into her vole. It's beautiful aroma swirled around the air before plunging into her nostrils.

"You probably wouldn't have caught it anyways!" she retorted.

The black tom crouched, ready to pounce, and the ginger cat snarled in response, but neither of them began to fight before the mentors butted in.

"Squirrelpaw, Spiderpaw, enough!" Squirrelpaw's mentor, Dustpelt, called.

"She scared away my prey!" Spiderpaw complained. Squirrelpaw twitched her whiskers in frustration. Why did he have to be so whiny?

Mousefur looked amused. "No fighting over scared prey, you two. We need to get something to take back to camp. We don't want the elders to be grumpy!"

"But we've been hunting for ages!" Squirrelpaw groaned.

Dustpelt exchanged glances with Mousefur.

"I suppose we could stop and do some more tomorrow…" Dustpelt mewed to Mousefur.

The small dusky brown she-cat sniffed. "Are you giving up that easily?"

"The apprentices are tired. You've got a sparrow, and I've already got two mice," Dustpelt replied, glancing over at Spiderpaw, who, conveniently, yawned.

Mousefur grunted, then gestured with her tail towards the camp. "Fine then. Let's go."

Squirrelpaw grabbed her vole and puffed out her chest, glancing towards Spiderpaw who was already looking half asleep and slouching over as he walked.

"Wake up, sleepy face," she hissed into his ear.

Spiderpaw jolted up. "I'm not tired!" he snapped.

"Yeah, right." Squirrelpaw's tail twitched in amusement.

The brown and black tom slouched over again. She heard Mousefur whisper to Dustpelt, "Good thing he has long legs. Otherwise, he'd be dragging his face along the ground!"

Dustpelt murmured in agreement.

When they got back to camp, Squirrelpaw spotted some cats over by the nursery. She turned to Dustpelt.

"What's going on?" she asked in confusion.

Dustpelt looked excited. "Ferncloud must have kitted," he replied brightly. Ferncloud was his mate. He dashed away towards the nursery and Squirrelpaw followed, curious.

Leafpaw stood by the den entrance. Her eyes glistened as she caught Squirrelpaw's gaze. "Ferncloud kitted." She confirmed what her mentor had said.

Her mentor vanished into the den ahead of her.

"Wow!" Squirrelpaw gave an excited bounce. "I wonder what the kits look like."

Leafpaw smiled. "Well, you'll get to see them soon."

"Squirrelpaw? Come in!" Dustpelt called, just as Leafpaw had predicted.

It was quiet and warm in the den, nice and peaceful. She spotted Ferncloud in a big nest made of dark green moss and dark brown feathers, staring down at her kits with an expression of love on her face. Dustpelt sat beside her, grooming her pelt. He paused to look up at Squirrelpaw.

"I assume you wanted to come see them."

Squirrelpaw ran over to Ferncloud's side. She could smell the new kits. Before she had a chance to register their appearances, she blurted, "Woah! They're so small! Was I that small?"

"Yes, at one point." Squirrelpaw looked up to see Sandstorm padding towards them, tail waving in the air. The light brown she-cat had just entered the den a few moments ago.

Sandstorm greeted Dustpelt by touching her nose to his, then she sat down beside the speckled queen.

Squirrelpaw stared in awe at the kits again. There were three; one was a pale gray like a rock, and the other two were brown tabby the colour of tree bark. "What will you name them?"

"Oh, there's time to do that," mewed a voice from the other side of the den. Goldenflower sat up in her nest, her expression warm. She was the oldest nursery queen, choosing to stay there instead of becoming a warrior again. She didn't hunt or fight, but she was a big help in the nursery and around camp. Not like she _could_ become a warrior again. Squirrelpaw swore she was so old her bones should've started aching by now. "The kits are strong and healthy, so you needn't worry."

Dustpelt let out a purr, turning to Squirrelpaw. "Could you fetch Brambleflower for me? I need to talk to him. Then you can go have something to eat."

"Why do you-" She was cut off as she spotted her mother giving her a warning glance from the far side of the den. Squirrelpaw quickly nodded. "Uh...okay, of course!"

Squirrelpaw quickly walked over to the den entrance, and without a look back, slipped out of the den.

The air smelled fresh, not humid. Squirrelpaw guessed that it wouldn't rain for a while.

She made her way to the warriors den. She wasn't quite sure what she thought about Dustpelt wanting to talk to Brambleflower for a moment.

"Brambleflower!" she called. "Dustpelt wants to talk to you!"

She heard a groan. "Squirrelpaw! I just fell asleep. Tell Dustpelt I'll talk to him later."

She swished her tail across the ground in frustration. Why did he have to be so lazy? "No," she responded stubbornly, dashing over to his nest. She positioned herself right over him, her muzzle and inch away from his ear, and blew.

"Ahh!" he shouted in surprise. "Squirrelpaw!"

"Serves you right," Squirrelpaw grunted, moving away from Brambleflower.

He sat up, licked a paw and drew it over his face. Then he glared at her with angry amber eyes. "Don't do that."

Squirrelpaw put her nose up into the air. "Whatever," she replied, padding away.

Brambleflower growled, then got up and followed her reluctantly. Several times she would look back to see if the tabby tom was still there, but it wasn't needed; he was following her, just as always.

She delivered the to grumpy warrior to the nursery, then she picked a thrush from the freshkill pile and began eating. Her eyes darted around the clearing from cat to cat. No sign of Spiderpaw. The black and brown tom had probably gone straight to the apprentices' den. She imagined him walking over to it, his face dragging along the ground, and she snorted.

"What's so funny?"

She turned around to see Firestar, his gaze warm. He sat down beside her, and she smiled.

"Spiderpaw almost fell asleep while hunting," she meowed, plucking a feather from her bird.

"Ahh, so that's why," he purred. "How's training?"

Squirrelpaw wrinkled her nose. "It's alright. I just wish I could train faster." She thought about Dustpelt patience as he watched her hunt.

Her father looked amused. "Just try to be patient. You're eight moons old - there's so much more to learn. Goodnight, daughter."

"Goodnight," she mewed.

Squirrelpaw sighed, then watched as Firestar walked away towards his den. Maybe she should sleep, just like he would. Maybe she should see where life would take her instead of rushing. Just fall asleep… or not.


End file.
